Mozambique: Defence lawyers rage against bank lawyer

Lawyers defending the 18 people accused of defrauding Mozambique's largest bank, the BCM, of 144 billion meticais (14 million US dollars at the exchange rates of the time) in 1996, on Monday launched a bitter, and highly personal attack against the BCM's lawyer, Albano Silva, who is handling the bank's private prosecution. Speaking on behalf of all the defence lawyers, Fernanda Lopes accused Silva of "a vile attempt to influence the judges".